Nook on the Street, Nov. 7, 2017

by Alex Frania ·
Published November 7, 2017
· Updated January 28, 2018

On Friday, the Trump administration released a report stating that human activity is a dominant cause of climate change. This report follows President Trump’s June announcement that the United States was withdrawing from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. “What do you think of this week’s report, in light of this?”

“It’s kind of surprising to me because for a while now [Trump]’s been saying things like he doesn’t believe in climate change and saying that it’s like a hoax and all this stuff. So I’m not sure what to make of it.”

Kendra Holstrom, freshman, non-degree seeking

“For one thing, I’m glad that the administration is finally taking account of the human induced activities on climate change and that this maybe a result of pressure on the administration to accept that climate change is an anthropogenic caused phenomenon. It seems to very much contradict what Trump and his administration has done and said in the past, but hopefully this is a step towards the right direction.”

Philip Andrews, freshman, biology and wildlife

“So, my views on this is that climate change actually is happening and I was really surprised when he withdrew from the Paris Agreement. When I saw the news I was in South Korea and even Korea was very interested in this news and reported a lot on it. One of the things that we thought was concerning was that the U.S. is a big country and is very influential to other countries. If they withdrew from that kind of group, that this could cause other countries to withdraw as well. So that’s what we were worried about, and now that he’s acknowledging that there is a human element to climate change does that mean he’s going back in? I don’t even know what’s happening right now but I do believe that there is a human factor to climate change and that we need to do something about it.”

Inho Yeo, senior, biological science

“He just seems to go back on his word quite a bit or that he’s not being completely honest. I feel like as long as we do have regulations on climate change that are keeping us ecologically aware of the situation and trying to help fix it then I don’t see the point of having to be part of this huge world wide agreement. As long as we are doing our part in trying to stop it then I don’t why it matters.”

Zachary Pinkley, freshman, mechanical engineering

“I think that the report is accurate and I do think that this goes directly against Trump’s statement that the U.S. is withdrawing from the climate change Paris Agreement. I think that it’s disappointing, I expect more from an elected official. I just think that it’s setting up a lot of issues that generations to come are going to have to deal with.”